FATALITY AT POHANGINA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1707, 23 December 1919, Page 3

FATALITY AT POHANGINA.

THE CORONIAL INQUIRY. Am inquest into' the clrcumsjaiicea ,oon-. netted, with the .cltsatii of James MeColley via held yesterday afternoon- before -Mr • A. J.Graimm (Acting-Coroner) and.'a' jury consisting of Messrs Xi. Ju£t, G. Weir. G. lieas and W. S. Carter. Sergeant Fitzpairiek represented the. police. Joseph William Maddison, farmer, of Po|iangina, was the first witness, lie . stated that on the 17th inat. ho was engaged * iu assisting deceased mustering sheep on } the-tatter's farm. They started'work at ten , o'clock, and shortly afterwards deceased tripped near a steep siding and fell over ; it.!.He rolled fully 100 yards, stopping about half way down on, a little piece of . level ground. Witness went .down and made deceased secure on the piece of 'flat* '" ground, and then went to Pohangina and telephoned for a doctor irom Foildmg. The doctor {arrived about an hour later. In the meantime deceased was carried to the hilltop by witness with the assistance of Mr T, i Be-etlium and others, and then removed 1 ? to a whore, whew ho .was seen by Dr.' l.ivesey. The doctgr requested that <le-. ceased "be removed to the hospital. A teleplume message was sent to the Palmerston North Hospital and the ambulance was sent j out, and ,it ..brought deceased to the hospital. It would be about three hours after the accident before tho ambularoe arrived, to remove deceased. Jtlc was.only slightly conscious l after the accident and could only answer "yes" and "no" Witness had known j deceased 13 years, and thought he walk' about 68. years of age. He was lame in one hip. Witness did not think- deceased had any relatives in New Zealand, ' but had heard "him say he had "three sisters in Australia. To the jury: At the time of the accident, be,was about two; feet away from deceased' .on 1 the opposite ride of a. fence. The deceased iripped qver a stick he had in his hand. • '■ To Sergeant Fitzpatrick: There was nobody present at the time except witness and deceased. To the jury: Deceased was a man of temperate habits. Dr. P. T.' Putnam deposed that deceased was "admitted to the hospital on the 17th inst. between seven and eight o'clock in the evening. He was then unconscious, and had a large bruise on his back, and was bleeding from tho. left ear. fie regained ■ consciousness to some extent, but was unable to state tho cause of the accident, and ho died at half-past seven o'clock on Sun- - day morning .Witness had held a post morte-n examination on the body, which was that of a man about 70 years of age. The brain was much' lacerated, and there. Juid been a good deal of hemorrhage uvto 'the brain. The cause of death was gross injury to the brain, caused apparently by a fall on the head, i The injuries would be consistent with deceased having sustained a ' In replv to the Acting-Coroner, Mr Maddison said that the accident happened about two. and a-quarter miles from the Pohangina township. '. . . One of the members of the jury pointed out that, there was a discrepancy between ' ■tho time Mr Maddison stated tho ambulance arrived, and the time, at which do- .; reased reached (lie hospital, but Mr Maddivon pointed out that he was only estmiat-.J iri'B the times and that, tho place in winch deeoacod fell was a difficult one to carry a \ man out of. ' The jury returned a verdict that deceased died from laceration Of the brain as the result (of'.injuries received through acci- ;l dentally failing over a steep siding on Ins farm at Pohangina. .